Everton 1-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers: Wolves Nick Point As Everton Lack Cutting Edge

An eighty-ninth minute strike from Russian midfielder Diniyar Bilyaletdinov rescued a deserved point for Everton at Goodison Park.

Wolverhampton Wanderers threatened to take all three points back to the Molineux after Kevin Doyle's second half strike had put the visitors ahead against the run of play.

A poor first half was eclipsed by an exciting second period as Everton chased victory and  an explosive finish to the game saw Wolves substitute Stefan Maierhofer sent off for a second bookable offence.

Mick McCarthy will be arguably the happier of the two managers after walking away with a share of the spoils.

Wolves had the best of the opening exchanges with Greg Halford’s long throw-ins probing the Toffee’s box three times in the opening ten minutes.

A shot from Carlos Edwards in the eighth minute was deflected away from the Everton goal and a second look showed contact with the arm of an Everton defender, however a penalty would perhaps have been a harsh decision.

The Goodison Park faithful grew restless after fifteen minutes of almost continuous defence from the home-side, and midfielder Tim Cahill obviously sensed this as he kick-started Everton’s attacking threat.

Cahill fired over the bar after latching onto Louis Saha’s flick-on and that attack appeared to spark Everton into life.

Russian midfielder Diniyar Bilyaletdinov curled an inch perfect cross into the penalty area but Saha couldn’t test Wolves ‘keeper Wayne Hennessey with his header.

Wolves were determined to work the ball in the early exchanges but every time possession was lost in the Everton half they were faced with an immediate attack from the Merseysiders.

For all Everton’s intent it was Wolves who hit first hit the target when Kevin Doyle’s curling left-footed shot forced Tim Howard to get his kit dirty and make the first save of the game.

Neither side could get a foot on the ball in the first half as the game flew from one goalkick to another. In between Doyle managed to get a shot on goal only for it to deflect wide off of strike partner Sylvain Ebanks-Blake.

Saha tried to force his way onto the penalty area but was easily worked off the ball by the Wolves defence before another attack saw Saha offer up a half-hearted penalty appeal after a tangle with Cristophe Berrera but it was swiftly waved away.

David Moyes showed his intention to win the game at the start of the second half as he removed defender Tony Hibbert from the action and replaced him with Nigerian striker Yakubu Aiygebeni.

The half time team talk sparked both sides into life as Saha forced Hennessey into a full length save, before Ebanks-Blake failed to make the most of a good chance after latching onto a Wolves throughball,

Everton showed their intent to keep the ball on the floor and play around their opponents as Howard took a short goalkick before the ball was worked to Bilyaletdinov who switched sides with Leon Osman to occupy the right flank in the second half.

The Russian won a foul and Everton turned the resulting free-kick into a corner as they kept up a pressure-filled opening five minutes of the second half.

The Wolves defence could eventually rest as energetic midfielder Michael Kightly takes a chance to run with the ball down the right-flank before finding Ebanks-Blake who forced a corner but it came to nothing.

Kightly was unable to muster much of an attacking threat as he floated an easily cleared cross into the Everton box and Wolves manager Mick McCarthy decided to replace the youngster just short of the hour mark.

Yakubu again showed his quality on his return from injury as he used his strength to link up with strike partner Saha before connecting with Baines arching cross and winning a corner.

Everton slowly started to dominate proceedings as battling work from Osman allowed Saha a chance to test Hennessey again from the edge of the penalty box on sixty-three minutes.

Just two minutes later a quick break allowed Yakubu to shoot inches wide of the post before Osman shows good skill to turn Berrear in the box.

Osman went down under pressure from the Wolves defender for perhaps the most convincing penalty shout of the afternoon, but referee Stuart Atwell was unconvinced.

Goodison Park watch in disbelief in the seventy-seventh minute as a long-ball cleared the entire Everton defence allowed Wolves a chance to take the lead and Kevin Doyle duly obliged as he slotted home his third goal of the season.

Hennessey fired a long ball forward that was latched onto by Doyle who then placed the ball past as an embarrassed Tim Howard who jumped out of the way of the ball as he anticipated a chip from the Irish striker.

Moyes used up his substitutes by bringing Belgian attacking midfielder Marouanne Fellaini into the game at the expense of Osman.

Fellaini almost made an immediate impact as he launched a good cross into the box from the right-hand side but Berrera keeps his concentration to clear the ball to safety.

One-way traffic at Goodison in the last ten minutes saw Everton get the least they deserved as Russian starlet Diniyar Bilyaletdinov scored an eighty-ninth minute equaliser.

Great work down the left hand side from substitute Jo saw him surge passed Elokobi before putting a ball across the face of the goal for Bilyaletdinov to fire home.

An explosive finish to the game saw Wolves substitute striker Stefan Maierhofer sent off for a second bookable offence after a foul on Everton ‘keeper Howard who in-turn received a yellow card for his reaction.

Everton failed to mount another attack and David Moyes will undoubtedly be upset at his side's inability to win the game after dominating much of the second half.

David Kifford, Goal.com UK